An information processing apparatus includes a user interface, a communication interface, and a controller configured to, in response to receiving via the user interface an instruction to transmit an error notification, refer to one or more error records registered in error history data stored in a memory, each error record representing an error caused in the information processing apparatus, determine whether the one or more error records referred to include at least one error record associated with a previously selected error type, and in response to determining that the one or more error records referred to include the at least one error record associated with the previously selected error type, transmit the error notification to an external device via the communication interface.

In an image forming apparatus, an event detection unit detects occurrence of an event which requires replacement of a part, a notification unit notifies guidance for replacing the part if the event detection unit detects occurrence of the event, and a control unit ends a notification of the guidance using, as conditions, a case in which a cover open to perform the replacement is set in a closed state and a case in which an input of an instruction that the replacement has completed is accepted.

The present disclosure relates to formulation and implementation of rules associated with printing devices. One example embodiment includes a method. The method includes monitoring, by a computing device, events associated with one or more printing devices. The method also includes identifying, by the computing device, a correlation between a first event type of the monitored events and a second event type of the monitored events. Further, the method includes formulating, by the computing device, a rule based on the correlation. According to the rule, when the first event type occurs, the computing device causes the second event type to occur in response. In addition, the method includes receiving, by the computing device, an indication that the rule should be implemented on the one or more printing devices. The method further includes implementing, by the computing device, the rule on the one or more printing devices.

A sensor unit includes a sensor device, a holder that holds the sensor device and includes a surface maintained at a reference potential, and a case that houses the holder, in which the case includes a mounting surface in contact with a mounting object, and the mounting surface is provided with a communication portion that causes an inside and an outside of the case to communicate with each other, and the holder includes a protrusion that protrudes from the communication portion and comes in contact with the mounting object.

According to an embodiment, a consumable management apparatus includes a detecting unit, a storage unit, an analyzing circuit, a predicting circuit, and a notifying circuit. The detecting unit detects a use condition of a consumable. The storage unit stores therein a use history of the consumable. The analyzing circuit is configured to analyze a consumption speed of the consumable based on a degree of use frequency of the consumable, the degree of use frequency being obtained from the use history of the consumable stored in the storage unit. The predicting circuit is configured to predict a replacement time of the consumable from the use condition of the consumable detected by the detecting unit and the consumption speed of the consumable analyzed by the analyzing circuit. The notifying circuit is configured to give a notice of the replacement time of the consumable predicted by the predicting circuit.

A control device includes an execution control unit that performs control to execute specific processing based on information posted by a user in a talk room in which each of plural participating users is able to post and view information, in which the execution control unit provides notification regarding execution of the specific processing to only some of the plural users according to predetermined conditions.

An information processing apparatus includes a user interface, a communication interface, and a controller configured to, in response to receiving via the user interface an instruction to transmit an error notification, refer to one or more error records registered in error history data stored in a memory, each error record representing an error caused in the information processing apparatus, determine whether the one or more error records referred to include at least one error record associated with a previously selected error type, and in response to determining that the one or more error records referred to include the at least one error record associated with the previously selected error type, transmit the error notification to an external device via the communication interface.

A printer for use in an image forming system including a local area network (LAN) interface for communicating with a server, a printer engine, and an operation unit includes a control unit including a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory such as a random access memory (RAM), and the control unit is capable of performing processing to store a server printing setting flag and notification processing to perform notification to prompt a user to give a setting instruction if an internal time is detected to be initialized and the server printing setting flag is stored.

A virtual execution device includes a hardware processor, the hardware processor forming a virtual device by simulating an image forming apparatus in operation, in the case where a predetermined allowing condition is unsatisfied by an operation state of the image forming apparatus, acquiring a plurality of respective jobs that have been externally received by the image forming apparatus before the allowing condition becomes unsatisfied by the operation state of the image forming apparatus as reference jobs, selecting one or more reference jobs as exclusion jobs from among the plurality of acquired reference jobs, causing the virtual device to process subject jobs that are not the one or more selected exclusion jobs among the plurality of acquired reference jobs, and in the case where the allowing condition is satisfied by an operation state of the virtual device, specifying the exclusion jobs as cause jobs that have caused errors in the image forming apparatus.

An image forming system including an image forming apparatus and portable terminals is provided. The image forming apparatus comprises a unit that detects an error as a cause of an interrupt of image formation and transmits an error occurrence notification to each terminal, and a unit that, upon receiving a recovery operation start notification from a terminal and determining that a recovery operation for the error is started, transmits the recovery operation start notification to each terminal. Each terminal comprises a user interface that, upon receiving the error occurrence notification, displays an error notification screen, transmits the recovery operation start notification to the image forming apparatus in accordance with an operation by a user, and upon receiving the recovery operation start notification from the image forming apparatus, displays a recovery operation start screen on the user interface unit.